Digital BW, The Print

Has anyone tried converting an HP 130 (dye) printer to a dedicated B&W  
machine using Eboni-6 (pigment) inks?

I've got a 130 that I've used for the past four or five years,  
primarily for CAD drawings. I've never been completely happy with the  
photo output, the water-soluble ink, and the limited choice of  
"archival" papers, so I'm wondering whether I might be able to convert  
it to a B&W-only printer.

Dave schreef:
> Has anyone tried converting an HP 130 (dye) printer to a dedicated B&W  
> machine using Eboni-6 (pigment) inks?
> 
> I've got a 130 that I've used for the past four or five years,  
> primarily for CAD drawings. I've never been completely happy with the  
> photo output, the water-soluble ink, and the limited choice of  
> "archival" papers, so I'm wondering whether I might be able to convert  
> it to a B&W-only printer.
> 

I don't think the inks intended for pi\ufffdzoheads will behave properly in 
thermoheads.

That said I am interested too in the smaller HP's Designjet and Office 
models for a conversion. Preferably with auto dual sided printing.
Main reason to go for them are the user replaceable heads, the larger 
separate carts not used on the head carriage so more like a CIS system 
and the low maintenance requirements I experience with my Z3100-Z3200.
The Officejet K5400 that I have is running on CMYK leftovers of Z3100 
carts so thermohead pigment inks can work on the dye models.
It is used as an office printer and I do not check any color shifting 
issues on it now. Just curious if it would work that way. The droplet 
size is however not in the high quality class. The Designjets 130 down 
to the 10 are in the 4 picoliter category if I recall it correctly. That 
plus 6 channels then would give enough choice for a custom inkset. The 
quad monochromes of the Vivera pigment probably the best base for a B&W 
custom set. Neutral by nature. The gloss enhancer the safest base to 
create lighter grey inks for thermohead use. I guess that there are some 
ingredients in the HP inks to keep the baking on of ink on the 
thermoheads low. In itself the steam power of the thermoheads is a 
better pump force than the pi\ufffdzohead action and less affected by air in 
the ink. The nozzle quantity is high even on older generation models 
like the 130 Designjet. 6 separate heads each with 304 nozzles.

What stops me is the lack of a QTR like driver. Suppose a custom inkset 
Vivera MK, PK, Grey, Light Grey, Light Light Grey, Gloss Enhancer. How 
do you create in Paul Roark style two color curve sets (or profiles 
based on them) that will use the suitable 5 channels (MK,PK,G,LG,LLG) 
(PK,G,LG,LLG,GE) ?

-- 
Met vriendelijke groeten,   Ernst


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